Hi everyone,
While I've been a member of the permies.com community since December of 2013, I never wrote an Introduction.
This winter, I'm getting around to doing some of the "Someday/Maybe" tasks on my project lists - and this is one of them.
Recently, I wrote an introduction in a
Facebook group titled "How
Permaculture is Changing My Life" - so it seemed appropriate.
(And here's a link to the group if interested:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/102848366879745/ )
I first heard the word “permaculture” in July 2012.
It sounded interesting to me…but initially, I didn’t pay any attention to it on account of other “life stuff” going on at that time.
I was living in Southern California and was in the process of breaking up with my girlfriend in Orange County and moving to San Diego to get closer to my job.
After settling in San Diego, I began exploring
Permaculture more and realizing the impact that it could have on my life and the life of my family, I immediately began forming an exit strategy to get back to my home state of Ohio and help my parents further develop a 20-acre parcel of undeveloped
land that they had recently purchased.
The beginning of 2013 involved developing an exit strategy…and by June – I had negotiated a final project to manage that involved relocation to Austin, Texas for approximately a year. I was traveling quite a bit and voraciously devouring
podcasts. Any and all material related to
permaculture, I devoured – especially the
Permaculture Voices podcast.
As soon as tickets were released, I immediately purchased one for the
Permaculture Voices Conference (PV1) in San Diego (to be held in March of 2014). During this time, I also was planning a backcountry hiking and camping trip to Capitol Reef National Park in Utah in September 2013. This trip changed my life and
led to Permaculture changing my life.
At the end of this trip, I ended up in the Neurological Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at a hospital outside Denver, Colorado. I’ve had epilepsy since I was 13. For a number of reasons, I ended up having a series of severe seizures, and ended up in status epilepticus. The only way out was a medically induced coma, which left me on a ventilator for several days.
Upon recovering, I was forced to return home early – not the intended exit strategy. With possessions in three states, no job that I could return to, no ability to drive a car, and sustained brain damage, the only thing I had going for me was a ticket to the first annual Permaculture Voices Conference, dreams and aspirations. Permaculture showed me the way.
Needless to say, the conference helped me gain the network and resources to begin making healthy, positive, and beneficial changes in my life. Within 6 months of PV1, I had taken and completed a
PDC with
Geoff Lawton, started a business and landed a side job doing ecological landscape design based on permaculture principles for a customer in my
local community.
In the interim, I managed to land a job at one of the largest wholesale nurseries and tree farms in Northeast Ohio in order to further my career in the green industry, while learning how to more effectively implement Permaculture into the industry and into my life. This is just one of the many ways How Permaculture is Changing My Life.
The gratitude I have to be able to share this story with you is immense. Through Permaculture, I am able to more effectively participate in being the change I wish to see in the world. Together, we are working toward living a more healthy, positive, and beneficial life through the solutions-oriented approach that Permaculture is and continues to be.
Thank you very much and I look forward to hearing all of your stories and connecting more with the community here at permies.com
Rob
4
I escaped the lake effect a couple of years ago.
